Why Adventure?

This 2-minute video from Werner Herzog's documentary, "Encounters at the End of the Earth" asks the same question through a metaphor.

What draws us to adventure? What pulls us away from the towns and cities, from old friends and family, when the routines of everyday life are there to ensure a safe and comfortable and happy life?

Some engage in adventure for work or science. Others do it for prestige, particularly the great explorers of the 1800s and 1900s who explored the Arctic and Antarctic in the name of the Norwegian or British Crown. Many adventurers are recreational, seeking to enhance their everyday lives with the benefits of physical exertion, psychological commitment and controlled risk--on weekends and holidays.

And yet there is another kind of adventurer who does it not for work, or scientific knowledge, prestige, or its beneficial impact on everyday life. Some embark on their journeys after leaving college, uncertain about their future place in the world. Some do it out of romantic sentiment, innocent of pretense, or as Byronic heroes in their own mind. Some hit the road to heal a grave loss, a reaction to death or the end of love. Some become unemployed or dissatisfied with their work, and hope that seeing the world will show them a new path. Particularly now, I see many who embark on motorcycle trips to flee what they call "the corporate grind." What do they flee to, on their expensive motorcycles?

Not all who experience life's trials in this way become adventurers. Many buckle down, or medicate, or seek other ordinary forms of oblivion. Others are galvanized to better their position, and work hard to overcome their obstacles. These adventurers seem to instead question the nature of the challenge or strive to pose it their own way.

But why?